NORFOLK, Va. — Emmy® award-winning producer and Newbery Medal award-winning author Kwame Alexander spent much of his childhood in Chesapeake, and he said his experiences in Hampton Roads helped shape his legendary career. It’s a big reason why he’s returning to the 757 to celebrate the release of his new book, “This is the Honey”.
“I put in the work,” Alexander said reflecting on the difficult journey to become a successful published poet. “You can’t make a dream come true if you don’t wake up. I woke up!”
Alexander will be reading and signing “This is the Honey”— an anthology of Black poets— at his sister’s store Pure Lagos Art Gallery and Boutique in Norfolk on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Alexander said it was important to include poems in the book from icons like his former Virginia Tech professor and mentor Nikki Giovanni. He also said he was thoughtful about including up-and-coming poets. Alexander stressed that while the book comes from the perspective of Black poets, he believes it can bring all people together.
“In this time that we're living in with so much chaos and divisiveness and disunity, I often think that poetry is a way to bring us together,” said Alexander. “I think the words on the page can allow us to sort of feel better in a in a moment of uncertainty.”
Alexander, who graduated from Great Bridge High School and, later, Virginia Tech, joined News 3 anchor Jessica Larche last year for a conversation about his success at the Afro-Union Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in the Bells Mill community in Chesapeake, where his great-great-grandfather is buried.
Positively Hampton Roads
Chesapeake author’s novel adapted for Disney+ series
“When I think about the land that I’m on, where we are,” said Alexander, “I feel like I’m responsible for continuing that legacy, that mission.”
Alexander honored his ancestor in his award-winning book “The Undefeated,” where he writes, “This is for the unafraid. The audacious ones who carried the red, white and weary blues on the battlefield to save an imperfect union.”
Alexander’s father, Dr. Curtis Alexander, is an author and historian, and oversees the memorial celebrating their ancestor and several other Black Civil War heroes.
“We’re sitting under history,” Dr. Alexander exclaimed. “You’re sitting where at least seven Afro-Union Civil War soldiers sat and commiserated and talked about the war.”
“I think that’s the metaphor, too,” the younger Alexander said. “When you’re sitting under history, you have a responsibility to stand up […] and spread your branches and live what’s possible.”
Black History Month
Afro-Union Civil War soldiers and Sailors honored at Chesapeake memorial site
Kwame Alexander expanded his reach when he wrote his novel “The Crossover,” a novel in verse about two Black brothers who play basketball. When more than 20 publishers turned it down, he leaned on advice from his father to never lower his goals — wisdom he included in the book.
“Always shoot for the sun,” Alexander wrote. “Don’t be ruled by other people’s limitations of what you can become.”
When a publisher did greenlight “The Crossover,” massive success followed, including the 2015 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children.
“When the book came out, sold millions of copies, [and] became a New York Times Best Seller, I got a call from [my dad] saying ‘Where are my royalty payments? You used my words!’”
Dr. Alexander accompanied his son to taping of the Disney+ adaptation of “The Crossover” in New Orleans, and was there to walk the “orange carpet” in Hollywood for the premiere.
Health
Chesapeake heart attack survivor shares warning during American Heart Month
“I like to think if you can create a writer, my parents did it,” said the younger Alexander, reflecting on his father’s work as an author, and his late mother Barbara’s legacy as a folklorist. “My mother used to read me stories and sing songs and read poems to me.”
Kwame Alexander’s career is soaring, but he said he’s grounded and grateful to those who came before him and paved the way.
“Books are a way to open a world of possible,” he said. "And certainly my world was opened here [in Chesapeake]."
